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Bridal Boutique Insurance: Everything You Need to Know

Hine Insurance Brokers share their advice on finding the best insurance policy for your bridal business.

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While bridal boutiques are vulnerable to many of the same risks as other retail environments, they’re also affected by risks specific to the bridalwear industry; these need to be accounted for with specialised insurance.

Countless things can go wrong in a bridal shop, from physical damage to the building itself to fires, flood, vandalism and theft, through to less tangible dangers such as liability claims and cyber attacks. So, as a boutique owner how to do cover yourself? We teamed up with Hine Insurance Brokers to explore everything you need to know about insuring your shop.

Read More: Starting or Enhancing a Bridal Business

Buildings, Stock and Content Cover

You should enquire about bridal boutique insurance as soon as you have agreed to a lease – although sometimes you may even be required to have insurance in place before you move in. However, no matter what, a policy should be ready to start from the day you begin putting stock or content in your shop.

Building and Contents cover will protect the sums you insure to match the levels of protection you need. It is there to protect your business from loss or damage from many different causes.

As the boutique owner or manager only you will know the replacement value of all the stock, contents, fixtures and features, so it’s extremely important not to be underinsured and to take everything into account, right down to your glass shopfront and signage.

Also, it’s important to think about the location of your business and the risks that could affect you which may not be immediately obvious. For example, if you live in a high flood-risk area, this will need to be accounted for in your cover.

Public and Employer’s Liability

As with any other business, liability insurance is crucial! Public liability insurance provides cover against claims made by members of the public who have suffered loss, injury or damage to their property.

Employers’ liability insurance is compulsory in the UK if you employ staff. It provides cover against a claim from an employee who is injured at work or becomes ill as a result of their work while in your employment.

If you are planning on exhibiting at a wedding fair public liability insurance may also be needed. Many venues that host events want companies to prove they have their own insurance in place before they attend. While this isn’t a necessity at all venues, it is still wise to ensure you have cover in place for every event you attend.

If a member of the public is injured or their property damaged and your business is seen as at fault, you could be held liable. We recommend a minimum of £2 million, however, some councils and exhibition organiser require a minimum of £5 million.

Read More: Health and Safety: An Issue For All Retailers

Business Interruption Insurance

If the unfortunate were to happen and your bridal business suffers downtime and temporarily cannot trade, Business Interruption Insurance can cover your expenses in the meantime. In most cases, Business Interruption Insurance is an additional add-on cover that can be increased and decreased as required. This will give your bridal business the flexibility to insure exactly what you need.

Other Cover

If you do a lot of trading online and store customer details on your computer, you might want to consider adding cyber cover to your policy. By doing so you are accounting for repair costs and potential legal and compensation fees.

Read More: 10 Steps to Avoid a Cyber Attack

Finding The Best Policy For You

To find a policy that truly meets the needs of your business, you simply need to become aware of the risks that your face. For example, if your business was unable to operate for four months due to flooding, how much would you need to cover for bills, additional staffing costs and loss of income in the meantime?

While you should never go on the price of the policy alone, it’s also not necessary to take on every possible additional feature at the highest level of cover either. Find a policy which offers a realistic amount of cover, so while you won’t be underinsured, you also won’t be paying for features you don’t need and will never use.

There are plenty of things to think about as a bridalwear retailer, but with the right cover in place ensuring you’re properly protected you can have peace of mind when it comes to your insurance. Every shop and every retailer will have different needs, which is why we recommend that you get a full review before taking out your policy.

Hine Insurance Brokers is the UK’s leading insurance broker to the bridal industry and are associate members of the British Bridalwear Suppliers Association. They are also the recommended insurance provider for the RBA and all members will receive a 5% discount on their Bridalsure Premium.

For more information visit their website here.

Running a bridal business isn’t without its fair share of problems, that’s why we asked the experts how to handle common problems in your bridal boutique.

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